Box in the Sky
by RiversAndRoses
Summary: On such a day, most hearts are filled with joy and hope, but the two hearts of a man in a box could never be more broken.


Brief Authors Note:

This story is just a Christmas one shot of Doctor Who feels. Please do not read unless mostly caught up, because this contains spoilers for Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Rory, and the 9th, 10th, and 11th Doctors. It takes place sometime after _The Angels Take Manhattan_ and before _The Snowmen._ As a disclaimer, I do not own Doctor Who, nor any of its characters. This is my first Doctor Who fanfiction and it is written in a style that isn't quite my usual. If you like it: great! No? In that case, please don't give up on me. I will write differently for different stories, so it's worth a shot to read another. Please know that you will need prior knowledge to read this. It may seem as if it is telling a story, but there are details left out. This is not made to explain the show to someone who has never seen it, but pull at the heartstrings of those who know this story so well. If you have any thoughts, ideas for improvement, compliments, criticism (constructive), or other comments, feel free to private message me or leave a review.

I hope you enjoy and have a very happy holidays!

Yours Truly,

RiversAndRoses

…

A blue box drifts through space.

The door is open. To a particular creature, it may remind them of certain police telephone boxes found in England. This thought, however, would be immediately discarded once one stepped inside, for this mysterious box is wider, taller, and longer than it would appear.

A man sits in this box. Partly in, partly out, if you will, but an amount of air is available through the small doors of this surprisingly large box, so the man is in good health.

This man bears a bowtie, wrinkled and dusty. His legs dangled carelessly out of the box out into the massive space. Sometimes he wonders what might happen should he choose to fall out. Perhaps it would make the world a better place.

Through the blackness, seen through the open doors of this box, is a planet. The man is partial to this planet. It is blue, not as deep a shade as his box, but still a beautiful blue with green, lush shapes stretched across it.

The planet is Earth.

Miles and miles away from this lonely little box in the sky and down upon the surface of this planet, a large tree can be found in a little home. Likely this might be considered odd at any other time of year, but here, there is snow falling silently outside the frosted windowsills, and lights from trees twinkle up and down the icy streets. Warm fires crackle in homes, and smoke from active chimneys reach up into the air and paint pictures in the sky.

It is Christmas. Dreams of family and friendship and togetherness can be found in each and every household. A smile can be found sleeping faces and cheer can be found in peaceful hearts.

Except for one man in space sitting sadly in his blue box.

His mind wanders to other things.

He has a different face, he is a different man, but his heart shares a burden of loneliness. A warm hand grasped around his. His spirits lifts and he pulls out a trinket from his leather jacket with a strange blue glow. From plastic people crashing through shop windows to metal machines screeching cries of _EXTERMINATE_ to a strip of skin who calls herself human, they run and they laugh and they have the most incredible of adventures.

But everyone has a time to go.

This man's time has come. As a bad wolf prowls the duo, the man must make sacrifices to protect the people he loves. One face transforms into another.

But even in loss, sacrifice, and death, she is always there. That little flash of blonde hair which guides this new man to become a hero, stronger and smarter than he once was. Her name is Rose Tyler and she holds his hand when he is falling apart.

Alien invasions, planets and people, they run through time and space together until the little girl with the blonde hair can run no more. She is torn away from him to a world where she will live on without him and he will never tell her that she is his everything and he is hers back.

There is a light at the end of the man's dark tunnel of life, and this spark of hope's name is Martha Jones. She is strong, bold, and clever, and she is there to support him when he prepares to lose again what makes him so sad.

The sound of drums echoes in his ears.

This is his home, and his wife, and his children, and his people who died so long ago in the Time War. He finds that he is not alone and there is somebody left and he does not have to suffer. But the man's hopes are too good to be, and the only other man in the universe who is his kind is destroying the people he has protected for so long now and the man must make a choice.

He makes his choice. He loses and now he is alone once more.

But what about that spark of hope who believes in him in his darker days. She can see now what a complicated, brilliant, powerful, dark, wonderful, broken, and beautiful place the world is now. She does not know if she likes what she sees.

The sharp edges of his raging personality and broken life have cut into Martha Jones, and she has learned that she has a duty to her family and must leave him.

The man understands. The man is alone.

When a sassy and silly women with fiery red hair and a fierce personality stumbles into his life, the man is about to begin a whole new adventure. As they laugh and learn about each other, he finds that behind the careless and bold façade is the kindest heart and greatest friend he could ever wish for.

The man and the women they travel together as best friends and comedic relief for the sadness and reality of their situations. At one point, a mystery enters the man's life.

This mystery is a woman.

Oh yes, the woman in the library, the archaeologist who knows more about him than he does himself. She carries of book of his life full of spoilers written in her calculating and cunning eyes and big, frizzy hair. She says her name is River Song, but there is more there than meets the eye.

Everybody knows that everybody dies. River Song, the woman whom he cannot recognize; her time has come and he is confused and desperate. But Donna holds his hand, and they escape from the library to continue their journey to explore and rescue the universe.

The Earth has been stolen.

He remembers this adventure in perfect clarity. Such adventure and amazement. As all that he lost began to return, the man searches in his heart to find those. Martha Jones is once again at his side, with his buddies Jack and Sarah Jane; even old Harriet Jones is there to assist Donna and the man on their journey. His hearts lift with joy as he finds that a very particular girl with blonde hair is there to help them.

As they fight against Daleks though, the man discovers that such joyous moments can't last forever. He must leave them all behind. He says goodbye to the friends he loves and has to part from the most important woman, leaving her with the closest thing to himself. Their love will be everlasting he knows, but he now must go.

Donna can't take the knowledge.

The time lord energy is surging through her and she can't take it anymore. Their adventures are forgotten to her now. She will live, but it will pay them both a price.

He is truly alone.

He will knock four times.

Knock.

The Master is coming. He can feel it. He searches for help, but knows that this problem only he can face.

Knock.

He knows he must die. The time lords are coming and he has to save them. But there just isn't a way. He has to choose. The man hates having to choose.

Knock.

The choice is made. The battle is done. He lives on. But only three knocks have occurred. To save a man whom he owes, he struggles to say goodbye.

Knock.

The time has come. Regeneration has begun and he is now leaving this world, leaving this face. He will be a new man.

But he doesn't want to go.

Amelia Pond has now taken a grasp over his life. The first face this new face saw was one full of hope and joy.

The little girl who fed him fish fingers and custard and waited many years for the man's return has decided to join him on his trip through the stars.

A crack in the universe.

Vampires in Venice.

Statues who can move when unseen and the triumphant return of the mysterious River Song.

Daleks in Britain. Silurians living beneath the ground.

The marriage of Amy and her lovely husband, Rory Williams.

The Pandorica's Opening and the loss of Rory.

The return of Rory and the loss of Amy.

A wild chase through time and space more extraordinary than ever before.

Not only have Amy, Rory, and River brought joy and hope to this broken man, but they have been the only people he can trust and depend on for many years.

That all changes when the man dies.

Silence will fall. The man has been killed faster than he can regenerate by the impossible astronaut in the lake. His past self has come to defend them and they try to destroy an enemy who has the ultimate power. They are forgotten the minute when you look away.

Defeated for now, the Silence are heard and the man continues his adventures. But in their minds, Amy and Rory know that sometime soon, the man will have to die.

The man however, worries about Amy. His magical TARDIS, his precious time machine cannot decided upon her pregnancy. Is there a child there, or is there not?

They travel to a land where gangers can be found. Exact copies of people with exact memories, so that you cannot know which person is real. The man finds answers and calms the raging storm between people and their other selves. The adventure continues, but once safe back in the TARDIS, the man has to face his inner conflict.

Amy is a ganger.

The whole time she was in the TARDIS was just a copy. The real Amy is pregnant, trapped in a extraterrestrial outpost where they plan to train her child into a psychopath with only one purpose; to kill the man whom she has travelled with for so long.

Once again, the man's life takes an unexpected turn when a discovery is made that could never have been predicted. Melody Williams, Amy and Rory's trained killer of a daughter, is none other than the infamous River Song.

With this new knowledge, the man goes on a quest for the lost child, and discovers some truths about his coming death.

They are on the beach again. There is a Silence in the distance. The man knows what will happen. He will be killed by River Song. He must face this and spend his final moments enjoying his friends company.

But River decided to try a different method.

Time has frozen, since the man's death, a fixed point in time, has been altered. Romance sways and the man chooses to marry the one woman who has been sent to kill him time and time again. He lives on.

He lives on.

He lives on.

He lives on.

This is the burden of the time lord.

While everyone else falls to their graves around him, the man will forever suffer the guilt and regret of the people whom he's lost.

The angels are back. Statues moving silently behind your backs. Do not look away. Do not turn your back. Do not even blink. They will send you away from your lives and your homes, to a past where nothing is the same and nobody is there to hold your hand.

They must find a way. The man runs with Amy and River to find Rory, who has been sucked into the past by the weeping angels. A book written long ago guides them, but the man finds that in the end, Amy will have to say goodbye.

Desperate to change the future, they create a paradox and try to reverse what has occurred.

Even such a man as this, however, can't do everything.

They are both lost to him. In a past world he could never reach. Amy and Rory, gone from him, but living happily together. They find joy. He does not. He never even said goodbye.

Alone now again, a man sits in his blue box, filled with gloom on the merriest day of the year.

This man is the Doctor. He has lost everything but a little blue box in space. As down on Earth, the sun begins to rise for Christmas day, a man's two hearts break in the forever sky.

A time lord tear slips down his ever changing, ever losing time lord face and into oblivion.

…

Thanks so much! Sorry if it made you sad. This is a one shot, but if you like the writing style, let me know and I can surely try using it again in the future. I write not just for my own pleasure, but for others as well. I want to know what you think, and what I can do to suit you better. Did I make you laugh? Make you cry? Make you throw a pillow at the wall and yell in agony at Steven Moffat? I want to know. I appreciate you for reading and I hope you will continue to watch out for my work.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Yours Truly,

RiversAndRoses


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